SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—iPierian Inc. has this
week announced the first two development programs in its drug pipeline, which
focus on monoclonal antibodies to treat neurodegenerative diseases by targeting
the Tau protein and the Complement pathway. According to iPieria, "Tau protein
and the Complement pathway represent central mechanisms driving an array of
neurodegenerative diseases, which will allow the company to pursue a series of
disease indications."

The company says that the emergence of the two
development programs in Tau and Complement follow from its decision to focus drug
discovery programs exclusively on neurodegenerative diseases, an area where
access to patients' brain tissue for study remains elusive, and iPierian says
it plans to advance both the Tau and Complement programs internally in
parallel.

The monoclonal antibody development programs
evolve from iPierian's research using disease modeling of patient-derived
induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The disease models, which combine human
cortical neurons, motor neurons, microglia and astrocytes in a dish, are used
by iPierian to discover and validate novel therapeutic targets or mechanisms of
disease.

"iPierian's platform provides a unique approach to
neurodegenerative disease drug development, incorporating human disease biology
at the very beginning of the discovery process," said Dr. Nancy Stagliano, CEO
of iPierian. "Our recent insights derived from human iPSCs have encouraged us
to quickly move our Tau and Complement programs forward. iPierian's
patient-derived models of neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation are allowing
us to realize the promise of iPSC technology in a very product-oriented way."

Leveraging the company's iPSC capabilities can
provide insight into the earliest drivers of diseases such as Alzheimer's, she
explains, in contrast to conventional autopsy samples which typically only
allow for study of end-stage pathophysiology. By studying the role of Tau in
human cells, the company aims to advance a novel therapeutic into the clinic
for multiple tauopathies, such as Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia
and progressive supranuclear palsy. In
targeting the Complement cascade in the innate immune system, iPierian's
platform is being leveraged to "tease out specific mechanisms of chronic
inflammation that occur in various brain disorders."